Jack Elliot, Senior Defender

Probably winning our first -round playoff game (against Anderson) last year. We hadn't been to playoffs in four years, and we got to play at home. The band came out as well as the girls team and a huge crowd of students.

What do you remember about the first time you played organized soccer? The first time I played organized soccer was for (Town & Country) when I was 5. It's cool because one of my teammates and best friends that I still play with was on my team back then, too.

Has soccer taught you any lessons you apply to daily life?

Soccer has really helped me with dealing with all kinds of pressure and performing in high-stress situations. I'm far more confident in speaking and performing in front of people, too.

What is the hardest skill for you to learn? Definitely volleying the ball. Getting a solid connection is hard enough, but to be able to direct it on target is very difficult for me to do.

If you could have dinner with four people in the history of the world, who would they be? I'd want to have dinner with Bruce Lee, Neil deGrasse Tyson, (Spanish soccer player) Carles Puyol and (comedian, musician and actor) Bo Burnham.

Why Burnham? Not only is he funny, he's also young with an outlook on life that's really mature and eye-opening.

If you had a choice of being valedictorian of your class or all-state in soccer, what would you choose?

I would choose to be all state for soccer because, while being top of my class would be an incredible feat, playing soccer is what I love, and it would be really special and much more meaningful to me to be recognized for it in the state.

Did the skills you learned in soccer help you as a kicker for the football team? It came very naturally to me. With just a few tweaks I was able to feel confident kicking, and being actually decent made it really enjoyable.

Do you have college plans?

I plan to study architecture in college, and if I have time, I'll probably play soccer for club or intramurally.

Tell me something about you most people don't know.

I love to cook. I like trying foreign recipes and making them for other people.

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go?

I would want to go to Copenhagen, Denmark. I really like the minimalistic architecture, and I would love to see a soccer game there.

Westwood soccer player Jack Elliott plans to study architecture in college and hopes play soccer for club or intramurally.